what are you into right now?

I have been sooooo into this Korean pancake mix I impulse-bought at Hmart a few months ago https://www.saveur.com/korean-pancake-mix-buchimgaru/

Oh nice. I live around the corner from an H Mart, def picking that up tomorrow. Thx for the tip.

I made a green onion and red pepper one and a kimchi one this week

Documentaries about archeology

Staying home

Bouzouki

Roasted sweet potatoes with butter and salt, great for breakfast or snack
Arranging cheap/free flowers and greens in vases from the thrift store
Nice cappuccinos from nice coffee shops
All The Citrus esp. meyer lemons from the yard!
Ballet documentaries
Hanging out with my super cute pony

all the sedate pastimes of rigorously enforced cocooning:

daily walks
home cooking
sleeping late
reading books
too much ilx
dvd movies from "the talkies" era
holding the line on alcohol consumption (mostly)

listening to about 5 new albums a day
singing karaoke in my room using the Smule app
playing guitar and giving up five minutes later
taking care of my father, teasing my mother with fart joekz
pretending to work
reading autobiographies by heavy metal singers
writing things that get rejected by publications

Aimless list fair close to mine

Doodling
Napping
Fantasy books
Ginger tea
Too much Twitch

i.e. how I'm coping with winter lockdown blues

Only Connect

Instagram chair and flooring options

Walking
Reading
Listening to music
Cooking
Friday nights with my family
Playing guitar (badly)
Watching shit on the telly
Puzzles

All things considered (and if I could remotely afford it) I'd be relatively happy retired.

Its been a cheery thought tbh, to consider this a trial run except that in retirement the plan would be for no rent and able to travel

(And a little cat or two)

Definitely to the travel part of it (and the cats). Obviously there's the existential element to retirement - the Prospero 'every third thought shall be my grave' thing - so the current state of affairs has the added benefit of not having the sense of forever attached to it.

As a treat

hanging out with the dogs
daily walks
reading for pleasure when i'm not reading for workshops i'm facilitating (which is its own pleasure, but has more 'pressure' built in)
Divide and Dissolve's new record
staying away from social media as much as possible

The latter is important. I cut my exposure a lot since my FB jail stint and my mood is so much better

Brazilian cheese bread, particularly the Brazi Bites Garlic Asiago
Metroid Prime
finance movies
Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge, ah-ha
the idea of playing all of the Metal Gear + Metal Gear Solid games in release order (tho I haven't actually started doing this yet)

swimming
learning to cook chinese food
patricia highsmith novels and movie/tv adaptations
nyt crossword and spelling bee
it’s always sunny
playing tennis
us labor history
comparative economic history of china and europe/‘great divergence’ debate
yakuza films
films of sam peckinpah
reading poems in Spanish
baloney mustard sandwiches

omg I too have been into nyt crossword and spelling be, and yakuza films!!
I also just got this cookbook (tho less to actually cook with and more as a reference) and I love that its organized by region instead of by meal/dish/ingredient: https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/chinese-cookbook-all-under-heaven-carolyn-phillips-article

that book looks amazing, Thx! i’ve recently become disillusioned with fuchsia dunlop (her recipe for dry fried green beans is bs and i am *certain* the beans pictured in the book shallow fried and not blanched(!) as in her recipe) and mostly use the website woks of life and random youtube videos

recent yakuzas ive watched: battles without honor and humanity (very old school, impossible to follow web of allegiances between various gang factions but cool regardless), a couple of takeshi kitanos (boiling point and violent cop—both extremely genius) and Gozu by takashi miike which is like a lynchian surreal nightmare. i have a list but def would love some recs, also they can be hard to find in my xp

how are you swimming, flopson? Pools here have been closed 4ev

xps to Stevie - strongly support you playing the MGS games, they’re great

how are you swimming, flopson? Pools here have been closed 4ev

― pot sounds (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, February 2, 2021 12:16 PM (eighteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

most pools are open in vancouver

xp- campus aquatic centre is open, you have to book a slot 48 hours in advance and they limit it to 3 swimmers per lane. also i live in british columbia which is kinda like the taiwan/new zealand of North America in terms of low covid numbers and chill restrictions

I played thru MGS when I was a teen, prob like 20 years ago? but have never played any of the OG Metal Gears, nor MGS2. I am really excited to replay it. I just finished killer7 and it is probably my 2nd fav game of all time now besides EarthBound, it was so so so good and now I am craving like really deep complex experimental narratives

flopson I've been watching mostly 60s stuff, YOUTH OF THE BEAST (1963), TOKYO DRIFTER (1966), BLACK LIZARD (1962), BLACK LIZARD (1968), the BLACK LIZARDs are not strictly yakuza but they are crimey, the 1962 is on Criteron Channel but the 1968 imo is much better and can only be seen via terrible VHS rip (albeit in widescreen, thankfully)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCV2_3AgPlU

FWIW Stevie, I found Miwa: Looking for Black Lizard not very good sadly. Maybe more for you if you're really into the actor?

I have gotten really into scented candles over the past month or two

Omg Stevie, I totally bought a scented candle for our bathroom and was afraid T would hate it, but alas, we both love gardenias, so I went and bought more because they were on sale

Having installed a better comic reader than perfectviewer im going through lone wolf and cub again

I am also into smelly candles these days! I am very particular about them, though. I don't really want anyone buying a smelly candle for me; it's something I have to pick out myself.

reading all my unread books

Podcasts galore
Webinars aplenty
Star Wars computer animation Rebels and Clone Wars since I haven't seen either before. Not sure if watching them at the same time means I'm missing info from Clone Wars being understood in Rebels cos it's later. Seems to be working ok so far.
Making shirts. Already on 4th one this year.
Asian fusion mess of things stir fried or curried in a wok. Though still maybe not as into the chopping and food wastage that's happening. Am doing things one day using the rest of what I've made over next several and then going back to use remnants of veg I used earlier which can't be ideal. Plus my fridge keeps leaving things wet which means I don't want to use them. Must be a way to have diverse inge diets without wastage.
Maybe it would be possible to buy smaller units cos that might help. Not sure what is packaged by who though. Few Asian outlets in this town, may be more economic to look at more out of the way ones though.
The books of Angela Saini and whatever interviews. Looking at fallacy of race and gender science as has been passed down or even as conducted at the time. That both still have resonance they do is problematic.
The Meters cos I got the box set recently and can hear them through. Not as sure about the clownish aspects of the Strut tracks but maybe they'll grow on me more.
Little Richard turn of the 70s material. Rill Thing has a fantastic band uncredited on it . Would love to hear bands influenced by the playing here.has anybody cited specifically this.

Want to get further into watching French film classics. Dlded a few a few weeks back then didn't get far through them. Did finally resee Les Visiteurs Du Soir
Which I'd wanted to for decades. Couldn't get subtitles to work on previous tv as easily as on new one.
Also watched the recent series Lupin though with subtitles. Shame it went on a half way break for months.

Catching up with other tv series I missed recently.
Started on Serpent but hate Jennane Coleman but then she is a character to be hated here. Still an actress I could do without.

i've bought four necklaces with occult designs in the last month and I"m kind of addicted to buying them now. not like...expensive ones, usually cheap $20 ones that look cool.

also I bought a Grim Reaper flipping the bird figurine for my work desk

omg tabes I love that!! it's a v special and personal thing for me, I like that you can just extinguish a candle to turn the smell off, it's not like cologne or something where it lingers for ages. idk if you fuck w duross & langel at all (the bougie soap store on 13th st near like El Vez and shit), it is pricey but the quality is great and the soap is v gentle, and their candles are supposed to be great too. I am particularly fond of the black pepper.

quincie otm re: being gifted candles, I too am fussy abt them and need to pick out exactly what I like, but I'm still trying to find what exactly that is. I have a couple from P.F. Candle Co but they're a bit too masc and cologney for me, I want to try Byredo and Diptyque but they are $$$ (maybe someday), and I have a Boy Smells candle my bf got me for Christmas bcz it's a Kacey Musgraves candle, and it's v nice and their candles are not TOO too expensive and I want to try more. I like candles that are like blends of thing instead of one single note, and I like stuff that's thoughtful and curious and not too masculine or feminine. If anyone has recommendations I am v open.

thrillers. hooked since i watched 'the fugitive'
tetris. personal best 70k
egg fried rice, because without msg i am nothing
90s jungle compilations on youtube
embracing solitude (though whatsapp is intruding)

woah i have a dim memory of going to that soap store? did we go there steve? they had nice smelling things.

i still can't do scented candles but love scented soaps definitely.

Hades
Advanced Night Repair
inducing sleep via artificial means
DHC lip cream
The Dark Tower comics
charisma.com (plus ce change)
Lamy blue-black ink
Porridge w/cinnamon but not salt

xp I am almost certain we did, it had like a counter w all the soaps on it running down the middle of the store and you could pick them all up and smell them

Thomas Tallis
Derek Jarman's diaries
M.R. James
Planting seeds indoors, waiting to see what happens
Filling holes in my film knowledge (which is way more hole than substance)

omg tell us some of the fun holes you have filled lately

bread crisps. damn polish shops .

Philippine brand dried mangos
herbal tea
weird fucked up fiction
making my bed
crust punk / d-beat
tool - aenima

Welp, Stevie I'm embarrassed about it really but these are all relatively recent and all first watches:

Suspiria
Walkabout
The Exorcist
The Third Man
12 Angry Men
Harold and Maude
Vertigo
Glengarry Glenn Ross
Gremlins 2

With books I'd be much safer but I'd be totally humiliated in that parlour game where you name the most embarrassing film you've never seen.

that is so cool that you get to see all those for the first time!!! tbh I have never seen Walkabout or Gremlins 2, and I only watched Glengarry Glenn Ross for the first time maybe a month or two ago

Yeah, I'm kinda glad to have a lifetime project to take on. Gremlins 2 is batshit; Walkabout completely extraordinary.

thrash/death metal
hating shit
flipping off blue lives matter stickers
my job
reaganland
china mieville

also, people's negative opinions on shit i like